Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has often evoked memories of the charismatic Chicago Mayor Harold Washington over the past few months, as he publicly entertained the idea of running for the big office in City Hall.

But it was another legendary Illinois politician whose image Jackson summoned to mind on Thursday, when he announced that he will not run for mayor so that he can remain in Congress and work with the new Democratic majority to bring the bacon back to his home city and state.

"I feel like Dan Rostenkowski," Jackson said, referring to the former Democratic Chicago-area congressman who once wielded such influence on behalf of Illinois interests in Washington.

I met Ed Bradley during the Carter administration when he and I were covering the White House together, and I was immediately impressed with his intelligence and knowledge of world affairs.

He had a curious and penetrating mind that sought to understand complex topics. Since he knew that I had covered economics, he would on occasion ask me to explain some economic development. He would cut to the chase quickly, starting with the basics in order to get a clear picture. He was a good companion on the road, and he knew about fine things, such as French China.

Rahm Emanuel, who led his party’s successful campaign to take control of the House, will not try to ride the wave from the election victory into the high-visibility congressional leadership post of Majority Whip.

Instead, he will run for the chairmanship of the House Democratic Caucus, the fourth highest post among House Democrats.

The 46-year old Chicago Democratic congressman had been weighing a bid for party whip, which will be the third-ranking post in the House Democratic leadership in the next Congress and would have given Emanuel a place in the top rank of the leadership only four years after he arrived in Congress. He will announce his decision to sit out the whip race later today.

A bid for the whip’s post would have put him in a contest with Rep. James Clyburn, an African-American congressman who is strongly backed by the Congressional Black Caucus. Clyburn is currently the Democratic Caucus Chairman.

"I seek this post, and not any other, because I believe what we need now is a unified Democratic caucus, focused squarely on the business of moving this country forward," Emanuel said.

Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said today that American voters, "frustrated'' with the war in Iraq, also have spoken out against corruption in Washington with their votes to hand control of Congress to the Democrats. "We listened,'' Mehlman said. "Message received.''

And President Bush, standing with all but one conspicuously absent member of his Cabinet behind him on the steps of the Rose Garden today, made it clear that he has a message for voters of his own: "It is our responsibility to put the elections behind us and address the issues facing America,'' Bush said. "The American people expect us to rise above partisan differences, and my administration will do its part.'' Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, was doing his part today – passing out fruit-filled chocolates to reporters leaving the Rose Garden appearance of the Cabinet.

President Bush had Nancy Pelosi in for lunch today. The president suggested that he and the Democratic Party's designated new House speaker "won't agree on every issue,'' but promised that they will work together. Photos by Pete Souza, Tribune staff.

And where are the necons now? Donald Rumsfeld is out as defense secretary and President Bush is hinting at some sort of accommodation in Iraq. The administration is willing to concede that mistakes have been made. And so it seems that the influence of the neoconservative movement on the president's foreign policy could be waning.

Such a conclusion may be a bit premature. The president is not talking about disengaging from Iraq anytime soon and has not backed away from his goal of making the country secure and self-sustaining. And some neocons said they have also learned from their mistakes. And there are new challenges. One neocon in particular, Joshua Muravchik of the American Enterprise Institute, says that Bush will "need" to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities before he leaves office.

Sen. George Allen, the Virginia Republican, has scheduled a 3:00 pm eastern time news conference. We don't know exactly what he's going to say but we believe he'll concede the tight-as-a-tick-on-a-dog's-back Senate race to Democrat James Webb which would give Democrats the 51 seats they need to control Congress.

That's certainly what Senate Democrats are expecting and they have pretty good sources. They had scheduled a 2:30 pm press conference to discuss their new control of the Senate but have moved their event back an hour to 3:30 pm. And now they are calling it a rally that "will mark the dawning of a new Democratic Majority in the U.S. Senate..." The outdoor rally is being held in what's called the Senate Swamp.

Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is looking at his party's probable takeover of Congress when all the votes are counted, its gains of six governor's offices and gains of 300 state legislative seats in the 2006 elections as a stepping stone to the '08 presidential elections.

"This is the beginning – not the end – of the 50-state strategy,'' Dean said at breakfast today, declining to comment on any of his party's potential candidates, including Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. "There will be a variety of very interesting candidates – some of whom may be in this room,'' said Dean, seated next to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson in a breakfast room crowded with reporters.

With the Associated Press calling Virginia for the Democrats, the Democratic Party is declaring victory in its bid to take control of the Senate -- and with it, both chambers of Congress.

Sen. George Allen, the Virginia Republican who had his eyes on the presidency before his own campaign for reelection started unraveling with his greeting of a young man of Indian descent at a rally as "macaca,'' has not conceded defeat yet -- awaiting the outcome of a canvassing of votes in the razor-thin Virginia election that apparently has handed the Senate seat to Democrat Jim Webb. But Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) chairman of the Democrats' Senate campaigns, has declared victory.

It goes to figure that in Florida, where a presidential election ended with a disputed 537-vote margin for the Republicans, and where Secretary of State Katherine Harris became the lightning-rod arbiter of the vote, that the contest for Harris’s House seat would end this week in a disputed 368-vote margin.

Again a Republican has won, and again the Democrats are crying foul. It seems the contest for Harris’ Sarasota-based seat - as Harris was waging a failing bid for the Senate this week - was missing from some of the ballots. The Florida Democratic Party is complaining: “Something’s not right.’’